On May 4, Reuters reported as fact unverified claims that the Conscience, the Freedom Flotilla ship reportedly hit by drones near Malta, is carrying humanitarian aid meant for the Gaza Strip (“NGO says it’s in talks with Malta to repair Gaza-bound aid ship hit by drones“).
Like the headline, the first paragraph takes anti-Israel activists on their word that their intention is to deliver aid:
An international NGO that intends to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza by sea said on Sunday it was in talks with Malta’s government about allowing the vessel to enter Maltese waters to repair damage caused by a drone attack.
Further down, the article repeats as fact the passengers’ claim that the ship is carrying aid:
The Conscience had been waiting to take on board some 30 peace activists from around the world before trying to sail to Gaza in the eastern Mediterranean to deliver food and medicines.
There is no independent confirmation of the anti-Israel activists’ claim that their boat is carrying aid. To the contrary, as Times of Israel reports in its improved-upon version of the same Reuters story:
The Saudi Al Arabiya news channel, citing a Western security source, reported Friday that the aid ship had been arranged by Hamas and that those onboard planned to engage with IDF troops as they approached the Gaza shore.
Moreover, as Reuters’ own reporting in the very same story notes, Malta (with a record of pro-Palestinian stances) itself has not yet been able to determine that the cargo is aid:
Prime Minister Robert Abela said on Sunday that Malta was prepared to assist the ship with necessary repairs so that it could continue on its journey, once it was satisfied that the vessel held only humanitarian aid.. .
A Malta government spokesman said its offer was to assist in repairs out at sea once the boat’s cargo was verified to be aid. [Emphases added.]
Does Reuters have information that the Maltese authorities do not?
In addition to reporting as fact that Conscience is carrying aid (despite the fact that the Maltese authorities have yet to establish this information), the article also falsely reports that in 2010 the Mavi Marmara was likewise seeking to deliver aid. Regarding the Mavi Marmara passengers who violently attacked the Israeli naval commandos, shooting them and taking three captive, Christopher Scicluna whitewashed:
Another NGO ship on a similar mission to Gaza in 2010 was stopped and boarded by Israeli troops, and nine activists died.
Regarding this deadly incident, the facts have long been well known and documented. The Mavi Marmara was armed with weapons — deployed against IDF soldiers — not aid. Passengers had also wrested guns from Israeli soldiers, and organizer Greta Berlin later admitted — though only in a private Facebook group whose contents were leaked — that contrary to her public statements Israelis “would not have started to fire” had one of the passengers not disarmed a soldier. (The Southern Poverty Law Center later described that passenger as a “raving, David Duke-endorsing anti-Semite.”)
As documented in the UN’s 2011 Palmer report (p. 47), the ship carried 546 passengers but no humanitarian aid supplies for the people of the Gaza Strip.
If the flotilla had been a purely humanitarian mission it is hard to see why so many passengers were embarked and with what purpose. Furthermore, the quality and value of many of the humanitarian goods on board the vessels is questionable. There were large quantities of humanitarian and construction supplies on board the Gazze 1, Eleftheri Mesogeio and Defne-Y. There were some foodstuffs and medical goods on board the Mavi Marmara, although it seems that these were intended for the voyage itself. Any “humanitarian supplies” were limited to foodstuffs and toys carried in passengers’ personal baggage. The same situation appears to be the case for two other of the vessels: the Sfendoni, and the Challenger I. There was little need to organize a flotilla of six ships to deliver humanitarian assistance if only three were required to carry the available humanitarian supplies. The number of journalists embarked on the ships gives further power to the conclusion that the flotilla’s primary purpose was to generate publicity. (Emphasis added.)
In October 2023, the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center reported that:
…several other initiatives for sending aid boats to the Gaza Strip have been reported since the beginning of the war. All of them are based in Turkey and Zaher Birawi is involved in all of them. Birawi is a Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood activist from Britain who is the chairman of the International Committee to Break the Siege on Gaza, which is a founding member of the Freedom Fleet coalition and who was one of the leaders of the Mavi Marmara flotilla.
Reuters itself previously corrected in both in English and Arabic after wrongly reporting in 2023 that the Mavi Marmara was carrying aid. The New York Times has also corrected the identical error regarding the Mavi Marmara. Reuters has yet to follow up on CAMERA’s request to correct the latest mischaracterization of the Mavi Marmara‘s 2010 cargo, and to likewise clarify that Freedom Flotilla’s claim that Conscience is carrying aid is unconfirmed.
With research and writing by Gilead Ini.
See also: “BBC Promotion of Unverified Claims From Anti-Israel Activists“
May 7 Update:
Several hours after this post was published, Reuters yesterday published a new article, “Malta to repair aid ship reportedly bombed by drones,” which reports about the Maltese governmental survey of the ship:
The survey found only food and drink for crew members for about 30 days, the government said. “The captain indicated that a limited part of the food and drink supplies were for humanitarian purposes.”
Despite the headline which calls Conscience an “aid ship,” the article rightfully qualified the activists’ claims as just that. It reports:
Malta’s government said on Tuesday it would carry out repairs in international waters on a humanitarian aid ship which was reportedly bombed by two drones early on Friday.The “Conscience” is operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, an international NGO which says it wants to use the ship to break the siege of Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid. [Emphasis added.]